A Pakistani man accused of planning an ISIS-inspired mass shooting in New York has been ordered to appear in a Quebec court for an extradition hearing to the United States next month.
Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, who lived near Toronto, is wanted by US authorities to stand trial in connection with an alleged plot to attack a Jewish center in Brooklyn.
Khan, 20, remained silent from the prisoner’s box during a brief appearance in Montreal Superior Court on Friday morning. He stood and nodded when the judge told him he would return for an extradition hearing on February 20.
RCMP arrested Khan near the U.S. border in Ormstown, Quebec, southwest of Montreal, in September. Court records show that the FBI became aware of Khan in late 2023 after an informant raised concerns about his social media posts.
New court documents reveal that the FBI tracked Muhammad Shahzeb Khan online for months while he lived in Mississauga, Ontario, plotting an ISIS-inspired mass murder of Jews in New York. Khan was arrested near the Quebec-New York border in September.
The FBI said an investigation later uncovered Khan’s alleged plan to form “an actual offline cell” of ISIS supporters and kill “as many Jews as possible” around October 7, 2024, the anniversary of the attacks. of Hamas against Israel.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, Khan used encrypted messaging apps and told undercover agents to gather AR-style rifles, ammunition, hunting knives and tactical gear. “We are going to New York to slaughter them,” Khan allegedly wrote.
Earlier this month, a senior FBI official appeared to allude to Khan’s alleged plot while speaking to reporters about the investigation into the deadly New Year’s Day truck attack in New Orleans.
“Over the last year, we’ve seen multiple plots in the United States that we were able to thwart,” said FBI Deputy Assistant Director for Counterterrorism Christopher Raia, pointing to a foiled plot planned for October in New York City.
Khan faces one count of attempting to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
CBC News previously reported Khan was in the process of applying for refugee status in Canada, according to an immigration consultant based in Mississauga, Ontario.
Although Khan had arrived in Canada on a student visa in June 2023, his former landlord in Mississauga said he was not actually studying anywhere.
“I wasn’t going to university,” Mudasar Hussain recently told CBC. “He was always at home.”
Hussain added that Khan “didn’t really talk to anyone in the house” and one day left “out of the blue.”
A security assessment by Canadian immigration officials found no “indicators of risk” ahead of Khan’s arrival in 2023, records show.
His Montreal-based lawyer, Gaétan Bourassa, told reporters last month that he suspects U.S. law enforcement induced Khan to commit the acts he is accused of. “My impression [is that he] “He was the victim of a trap,” he said.
At the time, Bourassa said he was waiting to see more evidence in Khan’s case.
